Automated vehicular parking apparatus

Abstract

A parking apparatus has a parking platform mounted to stanchions for movement between lower and upper positions. Left and right lever assemblies have inner surfaces facing toward one another and outer surfaces facing away from one another. Each lever assembly includes a first lever with an upper end articulated to the parking platform and a lower end articulated to a base. A piston-cylinder assembly moves the lever assemblies to raise or lower the parking platform. The upper end of each lever assembly has an inner bearing rotatably mounted adjacent the inner surface of the respective lever assembly and an outer bearing mounted adjacent a surface of the parking platform facing away from the inner bearing. A pin engages the inner and outer bearings, passes through the upper end of the respective first lever and through a part of the parking platform facing the outer surface of the respective lever assembly.

1 . A parking apparatus, comprising:
 left and right stanchions extending up from a base;   a parking platform mounted to the left and right stanchions and being movable between lower and upper positions;   left and right lever assemblies, each of the lever assemblies having inner surfaces facing toward one another and outer surfaces facing away from one another, each of the lever assemblies further including a first lever with an upper end having an articulated connection to the parking platform and a second lever with a lower end having an articulated connection to the base;   means for moving the left and right lever assemblies between folded conditions where the parking platform is in the lower position and an unfolded conditions where the parking platform is in the upper position, wherein:   the articulated connection of the parking platform to the upper end of the first lever in each of the left and right lever assemblies comprises: an inner bearing rotatably mounted adjacent the inner surface of the respective lever assembly, an outer bearing mounted adjacent a surface of the parking platform facing away from the inner bearing, and a pin engaged with the inner and outer bearings and passing through the upper end of the respective first lever.   
     
     
         2 . The parking apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising an engaging member passing radially into the inner bearing and engaged with the pin to prevent rotation between the inner bearing and the pin. 
     
     
         3 . The parking apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the engaging member is a bolt threadedly engaged in a radially aligned aperture in the pin. 
     
     
         4 . The parking apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the bolt has a non-circular head exposed radially outward from the inner bearing. 
     
     
         5 . The parking apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the parking platform comprises a rigid tube having a opposite left and right ends telescoped over ends of the inner bearings, the left and right ends of the rigid tube being spaced from the inner surfaces of the respective lever assembly. 
     
     
         6 . The parking apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein each of the inner bearings has an outer end portion projecting beyond the opposite left and right ends of the rigid tube, the outer end portions of the inner bearings being cross-sectionally larger than an inner cross-sectional dimension of the inner tube to limit telescoped movement of the rigid tube over the inner bearings. 
     
     
         7 . The parking apparatus of  1 , further comprising a lubrication port extending through a part of the parking platform outward from the outer surface of the respective lever assembly and communicating with an outer circumferential surface of the pin for delivering a lubricant to surfaces of the pin that pass rotatably through the first lever. 
     
     
         8 . The parking apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the parking platform has left and right carriages with wheels rotatably engaged respectively with the left and right stanchions, the outer bearings being mounted respectively to the carriages of the parking platform.